BYU Women’s Volleyball sweeps Portland, beats Gonzaga at home

13th-ranked BYU women’s volleyball beat Portland and Gonzaga in Provo this week, sweeping the Pilots while beating Gonzaga 3-1.

BYU swept Portland on Thursday night, with Taylen Ballard-Nixon’s 11 kills leading the Cougars along with two blocks. McKenna Miller also had 9 kills, 3 blocks, 3 digs and an ace.

BYU found themselves tied with the Pilots in the first set at 10, before the Cougars went on a 7-0 run to take a 17-10 lead. BYU would win 25-15.

The second set was all BYU again, with the Cougars hitting .583 on their way to a 25-14 set win. The third set was all Cougars, as they won 25-17.

BYU would host Gonzaga on Saturday and beat the Zags.

The first set was tight until the end, when Zags would pull away late to beat BYU 25-21. The Cougars were poor in the set, and hit a low .152 in the set.

The Cougars traded the first few points with the Bulldogs in the second set, but a 26-5 run in the second set would give BYU the 25-9 set win. The Cougars hit .520 in the set.

Gonzaga took an early lead in the third set, leading 7-5 at one point. However, BYU went on a 10-2 run to take a 15-9 lead. The Zags would sneak back into it, and even got within one of the Cougars at 19-18, but a 3-0 run out of the timeout gave the Cougars a 22-18 lead, which turned into a 25-20 win off a Heather Gneiting block.

The third set was tight at the beginning, but BYU would create a lead and hold it through the rest of the set, winning the set 25-16.

BYU saw some phenomenal play from Libero Mary Lake, who came up big on this play in a crucial part of the third set.

BYU has one last regular season home match on Tuesday against Pepperdine. After, BYU may host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, although that will be determined during the NCAA Tournament Selection.